Gujarat High Court rejects State govt.’s probe report in Vadodara boat tragedy

The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, rejected an inquiry report submitted by the State government into a boat tragedy in Vadodara in January this year and ordered a fresh probe.

Noting that the report absolves a former civic chief, the court questioned his decision to award the contract to operate the lake front, where the incident took place, to an unqualified firm.

The court also criticised the Principal Secretary (PS) of the Urban Development and Urban Housing Department for preparing and submitting such a report, nearly six months after 12 students and two teachers died when a boat capsized in Motnath lake in the Harni area of Vadodara city on January 18.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi is hearing a suo motu PIL on the incident.

The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) had awarded a contract to maintain and operate the lake front project to Kotia Projects, whose partners were subsequently arrested for the tragedy.

Expressing displeasure over the report, the Bench noted it tries to protect the then-municipal commissioner (MC) of Vadodara despite the fact that the contractor was not qualified to bag the project.

“The then commissioner had himself signed the order granting work order to that contractor. So he was the sole person who gave permission. Even a lay person can see that the contractor is not qualified. But, the report said he did nothing wrong. We want an impartial and fair inquiry. Take back this report and make a fresh inquiry,” noted the CJ.

“The PS cannot say that they (VMC) were required to act in a manner but they have not. So, there was no fault on their (MC) part? This type of report cannot be submitted to the court. You either withdraw this report and file a fresh one, otherwise we will make very serious observations,” said the CJ.

Advocate General Kamal Trivedi, appearing for the State, initially tried to defend the contents of the report, but eventually admitted that “perhaps language could have been much better”.